2015 Mississauga Open

[John Brown]

Re: Starting Rd. 1 ON TIME???

Before there were pre registrations by emails........................

The one old way was to send a cheque with your entry, by a certain date lets call it the (cut off) date. This gives organizers time to deposit your cheque and heaven forbid it bounces but you can always get the guy to pay cash at site with a late fee added for the inconvenience.

This would cut down on mega collections of money and also gives organizers some cash flow at the start. Hey you are offered a discount to enter early why not cement it by paying by cheque.

If you don't send a cheque then you are not pre-registered and you have to pay the late fee at the site.
I think this would make registration run smoother.

However in this tournament it was not clear where the site was two of my friends waited 40 mins at the wrong Church so if the right church was found then we may have started on time. But even with the problems Round 1 still got started shortly after 10 :30 which is not that bad.

I think that only solutions for a five round tournament is to not use increments on day 1. It is too late finishing.
If you want day 2 for the prize contenders to play better chess give increments but that is an organizer's choice.

[Yury Cheryachukin]

Re: Starting Rd. 1 ON TIME???

Below is my feedback to organizers if they are interested.

Positive comments-
1. The distribution of prize money was fair based on entry fees. I liked the idea of different entry fees for different sections.
2. I also liked the idea with the cards to expedite registration.
3. The tournament was adequately/well organized.

Negative comments-
1. Be clear about all deadlines and discounts/late fees. While the terms & conditions of a tournament are the prerogative of the organizers, in order to avoid late fees Thursday is much better deadline than Tuesday (I believe that both Aurora and Hart House organizers are more reasonable here). Working folks can make their decisions in the middle of the week (not in the beginning) due to other commitments. I don’t see why Friday would not be enough for the organizers to finalize a list of pre-registered players.
2. Round 3 got started after 7:15 pm which was bad to put it mildly. Round 5 started after 4:30 pm which was not good. Why not start Round 4 at noon (on time)? Or make it officially at 12:30 pm if there are some issues with the Church. Planning could be better and organizers should be realistic about timing. “10 am – 2 pm – 6 pm” isn’t feasible at 90 min + 30 sec for Day 1. Why don’t be realistic from the very beginning?
3. Pairings should be placed in one more location (e.g., in the playing hall) to avoid crowds in the corridors.

General Suggestions-
1. Allow to send a cheque with your entry by a certain date. Pre-paid participants can show up at their own convenience. If they don’t show up at all, the organizers keep their entries. If they are late, the clock is ticking.
2. Always rely on the increments and have at least 5 rounds for a 2-day tournament.
3. Consider to have a reduced time control for Round 1 (e.g., 60 min + 30 sec) and perhaps even more reduced time control for on-site “late” registrations (e.g., 45 min + 30 sec). Late registrations are not guaranteed and can be paired manually.
4. I personally prefer to have all the Rounds at 60 min + 30 sec. That means 3 hours per game on average or 9 hours per Day 1. As far as I know some players take their byes in Round 1 or Round 3 to avoid late starting or late finishing which is an indicator of the problem. Most players are not ready to play for 12 hours non-stop or must be creative in making short draws or wins to save some energy.
5. In general I agree with Bob and strongly believe that something should be done in terms of fighting delays and late finishing. If we can save 20-30 minutes here and there, we can reduce Day 1 from 12 hours to 9-10 hours or so.

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: Starting Rd. 1 ON TIME???

Below is my feedback to organizers if they are interested.

Yes, absolutely. Thank you.

[Bob Gillanders]

Re: 2015 Mississauga Open

About an hour ago, I had an epiphany regarding the question of "is 3 games a day, too much?"
I've listened patiently to the arguments from the "Yes" camp that it is too much, that got me on the fence.
Does the data regarding bye requests support the "yes" or "no" camps, not sure?
We don't hear much from the "No" camp, so what do we conclude from that?

Anyway (drum roll), my epiphany is this: 3 games a day is tough on the organizers/TD's.

So, decision made. I am not organizing any more 3 games a day tournaments (at the standard 90 + 30).
Shorter, time control, well maybe sure.
But, with game/90 + 30 sec. increment on sat & sun, then it's now just 4 rounds. Maybe add a side event for those eager beavers.

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: 2015 Mississauga Open

About an hour ago, I had an epiphany regarding the question of "is 3 games a day, too much?"
I've listened patiently to the arguments from the "Yes" camp that it is too much, that got me on the fence.
Does the data regarding bye requests support the "yes" or "no" camps, not sure?
We don't hear much from the "No" camp, so what do we conclude from that?

Anyway (drum roll), my epiphany is this: 3 games a day is tough on the organizers/TD's.

So, decision made. I am not organizing any more 3 games a day tournaments (at the standard 90 + 30).
Shorter, time control, well maybe sure.
But, with game/90 + 30 sec. increment on sat & sun, then it's now just 4 rounds. Maybe add a side event for those eager beavers.

Hi Bob G.:

I think local 4 round 2-day tournaments are fairly common in the USA. Joe Fatula of USA is a member of the Chess Coalition Cooperative (CCC), and I think I've heard him mention them. I'll check with him.

Bob A